Exploring World Development Indicators

Starting off with GDP Growth Rate

Data source: World Bank World Development Indicators (WDI) (World Bank 2026).

import pandas as pd
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np

data = pd.read_csv('wdi.csv')

print("\n=== GDP GROWTH RATE ===")
print(data['gdp_growth_rate'].describe())
print(f"Observations: {len(data)}")
print(f"Proportion of Increasing GDP: {(data['gdp_growth_rate'].dropna() > 0).sum()/len(data)}")


=== GDP GROWTH RATE ===
count    202.000000
mean       4.368901
std        6.626811
min      -28.758591
25%        2.438593
50%        4.204431
75%        6.200000
max       63.439864
Name: gdp_growth_rate, dtype: float64
Observations: 217
Proportion of Increasing GDP: 0.8433179723502304

Figure 1: Plot of GDP Growth Rate Distribution

Measles Immunization vs GDP Per Capita

data_plot2 = data.dropna(subset=['measles_immunisation_rate','gdp_per_capita'])
correlation = data_plot2['gdp_per_capita'].corr(data_plot2['measles_immunisation_rate'])
print(f"\nCorrelation: {correlation:.3f}")
print(f"Observations: {len(data_plot2)}")


Correlation: 0.314
Observations: 186

Figure 2: Relationship between GDP per Capita and Measles Immunisation Rate

Life Expectancy Vs GDP Per Capita

data_plot3 = data.dropna(subset=['life_expectancy','gdp_per_capita'])
correlation = data_plot3['gdp_per_capita'].corr(data_plot3['life_expectancy'])
print(f"\nCorrelation: {correlation:.3f}")
print(f"Observations: {len(data_plot3)}")


Correlation: 0.639
Observations: 197

Figure 3: Relationship between GDP per Capita and Life Expectancy

Summary

Table 1: Table of Key Statistics

Variable	Observations	Mean	Std. Dev.	Min	Median	Max	Correlation
GDP Growth Rate (%)	202	4.37	6.63	-28.76	4.20	63.44	—
Proportion of Countries with Positive GDP	217	0.843	—	—	—	—	—
GDP per Capita vs Immunisation Rate	186	—	—	—	—	—	0.314
GDP per Capita vs Life Expectancy	197	—	—	—	—	—	0.639

Conclusion of Analysis

As shown in Table 1, the average GDP growth rate across countries is 4.37%, with substantial dispersion given the standard deviation of 6.63. The minimum value of -28.76% highlights extreme economic contractions in some countries.

The distribution of GDP growth rates is illustrated in Figure 1, which shows a right-skewed distribution with several high-growth outliers. The histogram confirms that most countries cluster between 0% and 10% growth.

The relationship between GDP per capita and measles immunisation is presented in Figure 2. As reported in Table 1, the correlation is 0.314, indicating a moderate positive association.

In contrast, Figure 3 shows a stronger relationship between GDP per capita and life expectancy. The correlation of 0.639 (see Table 1) suggests a substantially stronger link between income levels and longevity outcomes.

World Bank. 2026. “World Development Indicators.” https://databank.worldbank.org/source/world-development-indicators.